The preseason Amway Coaches Poll that was released Thursday consisted entirely of teams from the Power Five conferences. It's the first time in 15 years that the preseason coaches poll has not included at least one team from a conference without an automatic berth to what was then known as the BCS.

2014 PRESEASON AMWAY COACHES POLL

Florida State (ACC)

Alabama (SEC)

Oklahoma (Big 12)

Oregon (Pac-12)

Auburn (SEC)

Ohio State (Big Ten)

UCLA (Pac-12)

Michigan State (Big Ten)

South Carolina (SEC)

Baylor (Big 12)

Stanford (Pac 12)

Georgia (SEC)

LSU (SEC)

Wisconsin (Big Ten)

USC (Pac-12)

Clemson (ACC)

Notre Dame (Indp.)

Arizona State (Pac-12)

Ole Miss (SEC)

Texas A and M (SEC)

Kansas State (Big 12)

Nebraska (Big Ten)

North Carolina (ACC)

Texas (Big 12)

Washington (Pac-12)

The BCS is now defunct, and 2014 marks the beginning of the four-team College Football Playoff.

It's also worth noting that preseason polls are often inaccurate and that the Coaches Poll is not one of the criteria the playoff selection committee will use to determine their rankings.

But it's a poll that reflects the opinions of a group of FBS football head coaches -- including San Diego State's Rocky Long. So does this point to a weaker complement of mid-major teams this year? And with talk of autonomy for the Power Five conferences heating up, could this further widen the gulf between the Power Five conferences and the mid-major programs?

Playoff or not, the world is still not equal in college football. In theory, the College Football Playoff selection committee will grant the four best teams in college football bids to the inaugural national semifinal games. Then, the champions of the Big 12, Pac 12, SEC, Big Ten and ACC are all guaranteed slots in the four other College Football Playoff bowls. (In 2015, the Peach, Cotton, Fiesta and Orange bowls.)

But for the Aztecs and the other 59 teams that play in one of the "Group of Five" mid-major conferences -- the Mountain West, C-USA, AAC, Sun Belt and MAC -- they have a 1-in-60 shot of making it to a College Football Playoff Bowl because only the highest ranked champion of the five minor conferences gets that magic ticket to a big money game.

It's better access than before, but let's face it, "better" is a relative term here.

Fiesta Bowl champion Central Florida leads the way for the "Group of Five" teams on the preseason Amway Poll. The Knights finished 2013 ranked No. 12 in the final Coaches Poll, but without QB Blake Bortles and RB Storm Johnson, they're 28th in the new preseason poll.

You have to go all the way to No. 37 to find another Group of Five team. Doc Holliday's Marshall squad out of C-USA boasts prolific quarterback Rakeem Cato (who could, in 2014, break passing records held by Byron Leftwich and Chad Pennington). BYU, an independent, is ranked No. 38, while Boise State and Louisiana-Lafayette check in at No. 39 and 40, respectively.

No Mountain West team has made it to a BCS-level bowl since TCU played Wisconsin in the Rose Bowl in 2011.

Can the MWC assert its dominance over the other Group of Five conferences this year?